Microsoft Zune 30GB player suffers glitch

Microsoft is ending the year with the displeasure of fixing a glitch that has hit Zune 30GB MP3 owners who are now suffering from a software glitch that causes the MP3 player to freeze on the Zune logo screen.

"Customers with 30GB Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware," Microsoft said in a statement published on the Zune web site.  "We’re aware of the problem and are working to correct it.  Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!"

Zune owners headed to the Internet earlier today to complain about the software problem, while Microsoft remained silent about what could have caused this problem.  Each affected Zune will begin to boot up but freeze on the Zune logo, with some people saying it’s a Y2K9 bug and that the problem will go away tomorrow.

Despite market dominance by the Apple iPod line of MP3 players, Microsoft executives have been happy with overall sales of the Zune since the product’s release in 2006.  Considering there are rumors of an official Zune phone product announcement next week during CES, the timing of this Zune glitch is rather untimely for Microsoft.

E-mails sent to Microsoft public relations were not answered.

If you’re a 30GB Zune owner, have you been affected by this glitch?

UPDATE:  Microsoft recently issued this update on the Zune web site:

"The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year.  The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009.  

We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on.  If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device."

A FAQ related to the bug can be found here. 

(I’d like to quickly thank Twitter user Geek News, who informed me of the update.)